Nine years ago I began drawing outside in the Vermont landscape. My favorite locations are on the tops of hills, looking down. in this time many places and experiences have taken on significant meaning- a swimming hole under the covered bridge, moose watching at Belvedere, and the route of my ritual walk taken in all seasons. My work is not so much about these specific places, but about significant moments that ignite a feeling of being alive in the space and the personal stories I have taken away from locations. For example, a leaning tree on Rt. 15 is my muse. What connects me to the spaces I create is the same as what connects me to my childhood memories. I had a favorite tree I would climb and sit in for hours, looking down. Standing on a mountain top connects me to the childhood experience of wholeness and security.The formal structures of nature directly experienced or recalled give my paintings the solid foundation upon which I improvise abstractions.